Phuket Sandbox expectations: reality bites

[goji]

If I could go to Phuket for 10-12 days without quarantine in November I'd go. Not as many boys but great motorbike rides and some lovely restaurants I'm sure. The problem for me is likely to be China.They were the first or one of them to close their borders and I suspect they'll be one of the last to reopen. Even if one has been vaccinated with their own vaccine.

I suspect you are right.
Whilst China is letting it's students out (& maybe others), my understanding is they all need to do hotel quarantine upon returning home.
Those Chinese students who are abroad seem to be in no hurry to return home.

Also, if China is vaccinating it's population with some not very effective vaccines, they will hardly be wanting to import virus mutations.

[Blueskytoday]

I for one see NO true information coming out of China...i.e. actual cases daily etc....would not believe anything they put out anyway...

[StevieWonders]

Phuket on Tuesday stepped up preparations for the July 1 launch of its "Sandbox" scheme.

The tourist province began rehearsing immigration and Covid-19 control measures to be implemented at its international airport, three seaports and security checkpoints on the road leading to the island.

https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand...es-for-sandbox

Anyone who booked a flight to Phuket under the current circumstances has to be willing to accept the consequences of their decisions.

I imagine most, if not all potential tourists, have already scratched this trip off their calendars.

[StevieWonders]

It’s a low tech solution to tracking where tourists go on Phuket - a wristband:

https://thethaiger.com/news/phuket/l...nated-tourists

The TAT has launched a new Phuket-centric marketing campaign - https://www.tatnews.org/2021/06/tat-...ting-campaign/

[StevieWonders]

When will 70% of the population of Phuket be vaccinated? Just re-definite what you mean by “the population of Phuket” in order to get the answer you want. It seems the government has already achieved 74% vaccinated by this statistical sleight of hand - https://thethaiger.com/news/phuket/o...-is-vaccinated

Orwell said it best in Animal Farm when the rulers changed the mantra “Four legs good” to “Four legs good, two legs better”.

[cdnmatt]

From: https://forum.thaivisa.com/topic/122..._campaign=news

Visitors to Phuket under the ‘Phuket Sandbox’ scheme will be required to wear a wristband that will track their location, officials confirmed on Tuesday. The GPS enabled wristband will be able to inform the authorities of the exact location of each tourist on the island.

Thai news site Manager reported on some of the security protocols that will be put in place, which include security checkpoints on the main road leading to the island screening everyone arriving or trying to leave. The checkpoints will feature facial recognition cameras that will be able to detect any tourist who tries to leave Phuket before the 14 day mandatory quarantine period.

Well, now doesn't that sound like an absolutely lovely vacation? Three tests, 24x7 GPS monitoring via wristband, and police with facial recognition technology to boot to ensure you don't stray outside of the designated safe area.

Oh well, a few beers would probably calm those negativities down. Oh wait, there's no bars or clubs going to be open either...

Fuck yeah, sign me up!

[christianpfc]

The wristbands leaves the question if the technology already exists and can be procured in the remaining time in the required number. I would be curious about details, do the wristbands have GPS or a SIM-card or work on WiFi?

[gerefan2]

When will 70% of the population of Phuket be vaccinated?

That is not the point. The vaccine does not give protection until 3 to 4 weeks after the jab.
So they have missed the slot already, today being the 17 th ...

https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/corona...QaApY4EALw_wcB

[cdnmatt]

The wristbands leaves the question if the technology already exists and can be procured in the remaining time in the required number. I would be curious about details, do the wristbands have GPS or a SIM-card or work on WiFi?

The article says GPS enabled, so I'm assuming it means just that. No SIM card or wifi, just direct signals to the GPS sattelites.

I'm pretty sure what happened here is they fucked up on development of their mobile tracking app, didn't have time to develop a new app, so decided to go with plan B, which is scramble around and try to procure enough GPS enabled wristbands to cover everyone that shows up.

They better be careful, because they might end up shooting themselves in the foot here. I'm pretty sure TAT doesn't want a bunch of Youtube videos going viral from people saying they were treated more like a prisoner than a tourist.

[Mancs]

Wouldn't the Mor Chana app do the job of tracking? Maybe users have to submit location info. I wonder if the GPS wristband likes showers and swimming? From Bangkok Post:

"According to the Singapore-based cybersecurity firm Straits Interactive, the Mor Chana and Thai Chana contact tracing apps, endorsed by the government to stop the spread of Covid-19, contain excessive user permissions and have terms and conditions lacking transparency. A report by the Data Protection Excellence Network (DPEX) conducted by Straits Interactive showed the Mor Chana app asked for more permissions from users than any other contact tracing app in Asean, while Singapore's TraceTogether app and Vietnam's Blue Zone app had the least. Mor Chana is an app designed to help medical professionals, government agencies and the public trace Covid-19 infections. Users can submit information to the app about their health status and location to assist the government and doctors trace the spread of the virus. The app was developed in collaboration with state organisations and private developers to provide data to the Department of Disease Control. Countries around the world are developing similar apps to fight the pandemic, while privacy advocates are raising concerns that these tracing apps could be abused by the government and used to monitor citizens for purposes other than Covid-19 prevention."